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No. 22 Vol. 2
My Life Publications • 973-809-4784 February 2026
Livingston Girls Soccer Captures First State Title
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By Evan Wechman here is a wonderful reason to celebrate this month in Livingston. After a long and hard-fought season, the Livingston High Girls Soccer team captured its first ever state championship with a 2-1 penaltykick shootout victory over Cherokee High School. Although the Lancers lost many players to injuries along the way, their camaraderie enabled them to win the title. When Livingston saw two of its five captains go down from injuries in pre-season, and then lose a third captain during the season, some onlookers may have thought this was not going to be their year. However, the Lancers under the leadership of Head Coach Brian Carr always managed to stay focused. They all understood they were part of a bigger picture, and everyone had to pitch in. “It’s definitely a resilient group,” Carr said. “But we have players on our team that don’t accept excuses. Their mentality was alright; we lost a great player, but we’re going to find a way anyways. And they did that over and over and over again. They were 23 and one, despite losing some bigtime players.” For many teams across the state, it would have been easy to throw in the towel after suffering such setbacks. However, for the Lancers, their culture is one which is about the entire team, rather than just one or two players. “It’s our culture that sort of takes you that deep into the season,” Carr said. “When you’re playing, and you start in midAugust and you’re playing almost until Thanksgiving, it’s hard for a lot of teams to stay motivated and to keep going. It’s a long grind, six days a week, so I think the girls have a bond with each other that was incredibly strong, and that support system is really a big part of that.” Coach Carr, who just finished his sixth full season as the Girls Soccer Head Coach but has been with the program as
an assistant since 2011, has never seen anything like this before. He understands that to win at this level, the players must not only work hard but also enjoy the grind that comes with a long season. For Carr, he is most impressed with the bonds the girls have for one another. Whether a player is starting or sitting on the bench, the love and enthusiasm for one another is amazing. “Our girls are very unique in that the support you hear from the sidelines is pretty wild. They’re definitely loud and cheering their teammates on, pushing them to go further” Carr said. The coach even recalled a tough game against Westfield when their rival was closing in. Instead of getting nervous, the reserves started singing Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” to
motivate their teammates. Such efforts led to a key victory that day and has worked all season long. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, Carr said. “Soccer has been in my life, since I was four, and I’m 38 now, and I’ve never seen a team do chants, let alone singing acapella songs throughout the game. Winning or losing, it doesn’t really matter. Their support is pretty crazy. So that’s definitely something unique you don’t see anyone else doing.” The Lancers’ championship season was a cumulative effort with both seniors and underclassmen contributing when needed. However, with the team graduating about 10 players, they will be looking for some of their continued on page 4